Didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy the view.
“Well, something big happened down in Ellensburg yesterday, at the car show. You know he’s been hanging out with the motorcycle club a lot, right?”
“Yes, I’d noticed,” I said, my voice turning sour. I wasn’t a fan of the club, at least not in recent years. They’d always been a part of the town, but lately they’d gotten out of hand. People were scared of them these days, and with good reason.
“Well, they got in some kind of big fight and tore up a bar. Then the cops arrested all of them. Not just the guys in the club, but anyone with them, and Cooper was right in the thick of it.”
“What?” I asked, sitting up. Cooper didn’t seem like the violent type. I mean, he was big and tough and all that, but he was always so gentle with me. I’d thought the time he was spending with the Nighthawks was just because of his girlfriend, Talia.
Their president was an asshole and a bully, and his sister—the hated girlfriend, and yes, I’m saying that out of petty jealousy—was flat-out mean. She’d caught me staring at him a while back and threatened me. Like, seriously threatened me. With a knife.
Said she’d cut me if I touched her man.
Despite all that, I’d held out hope for Cooper. I mean, he was definitely a biker, but he’d been fantastic about doing work around the place in exchange for reduced rent. Reliable. Friendly, even. We’d had a few dinners together, watched a movie one evening. I’d have thought he was interested in me if Talia wasn’t spending four or five nights a week at his place.
Screwing the skinny little witch was bad enough, but this business of getting arrested . . . that was a bigger deal.
“Guess I didn’t know him as well as I thought,” I admitted, stomach churning. “Although anyone can get caught up in a bar fight. Just because they arrested him doesn’t mean—”
“There were drugs,” she added, and I heard genuine regret in her voice. “Lots of drugs. Meth, apparently. I guess a bunch of the guys were carrying it.”
I coughed. “Meth?”
“Yup,” she said. “They aren’t saying what’ll happen to them, but it’s not good. This might be the end of the club here in Hallies Falls. I wonder if he has drugs in his apartment. You should go check—if he’s dealing, you need him out of there. You can’t trust a guy just because he’s hot and mows the lawn without a shirt.”
Lifting my glass, I chugged it dry. My nose prickled, and I sniffed. Shit, why was this bothering me so much? It wasn’t like I really even knew him.
“Thanks for telling me,” I said. “Guess that’s one fantasy man I can cross off the list.”
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “But it’s for the best. If he’s a bad guy, it’s better to find out now so you can evict his ass. That club has gotten worse and worse, everyone knows it.”
“I can’t evict someone for getting arrested. That’s illegal.”
“It’s a month-to-month lease, right?” she asked. “You don’t need a reason. Just give him thirty days’ notice and get rid of him. You don’t want that kind of trash around your place, Tinker. You’ve got enough on your plate already.”
Carrie was a great friend, but she’d always been bossy, ever since kindergarten. She’d given me the information, which I appreciated, but I also wanted to process it on my own.
“I have to go, Carrie. There’s someone coming, one of the other tenants. I’ll talk to you later.”
Hanging up the phone, I looked across the empty porch toward the equally empty sidewalk, wondering why the news about Cooper bothered me so much.
Had I really been stupid enough to actually fall for him?
Maybe a little bit.